A friendly asylum for a couple of crazy DC-area women's basketball fans, where we share some news, some opinions, as well as a little of almost anything else that our demented minds dredge up having to do with the WNBA, the Maryland Terrapins, or any other team, player or character associated with the world of women's hoops.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Best Fans Forever!!!

Ask anyone who's been a multi-year season ticketholder for any sports team and she'll probably tell you that one of the most interesting aspects of being an STH is the experience of connecting with the other fans around you.

It's a weird phenomenon. You buy season tickets, often with one or more friends or family members, and through the luck of the draw, you are assigned to a side, section and row with other fans you may never have laid eyes on before. But except for the unlucky few who immediately call their ticket reps and beg for a new seat assignment, chances are that by season's end there's a special kind of bond formed between you and your nearby seatmates. For however long -- or short -- the season lasts, we are all BFFs! With some of our BFFs we may form real friendships, but mostly, after the last game (or team banquet or team event), we won't have any contact with each other until next season. But after months and months, when that first game of the new season finally rolls around, we see each other again . . . and immediately the smiles break out, we hug, and we exchange all the how-ya-beens, great-to-see-yous of old friends excited to finally be back in touch. Definitely weird. But weird good.

So with the Mystics season about to kick off this Wednesday with a lunch-time (11:30 AM) pre-season contest against the New York Liberty, we're looking forward not only to seeing what the Mystics training camp roster looks like on the court, but also looking forward to seeing a few of our BFFs in their seats.

If you've been reading this blog, or anything else about the Mystics, you've undoubtedly heard the unfortunate news that ankle surgery will sideline Alana Beard for the entire 2010 WNBA season. Bummer! What you may or may not have heard, however, is that AB's status (injured but still under contract) means that Washington will be playing with a 10-person roster throughout the regular season. There's no extra roster spot for GM Angela Taylor and Coach Julie Plank to play with. This means that every new player added to the 2010 Mystics will displace a former member of the old team. It's a tough way to make a living, that's for sure.

We expect the final roster will include one or more new faces. There's no doubt that Angela and Julie are pretty excited about some of the young talent they've brought into training camp. Today, the Mystics launched a new every-Friday video feature on their website called Inside Access. The BCs watched Episode 1 this morning -- about Draft Day in Washington's "war room" -- and we thought it was great! Think of it as a shorter, Mystics version of Under-the-Shell . . . a behind-the-scenes (mostly) unscripted look at the team and the organization. When you watch the war room reaction to San Antonio's selection of Stanford'sJayne Appel -- which left FSU'sJacinta Monroe still on the board -- you just know that what Angela told the press was true, that "50-cent" Monroe was the appel apple of her eye all along.

We expect that at Wednesday's game we'll see plenty of the minutes spread among the new players auditioning for a spot on the roster. With the very difficult assignment of trimming the team to 10 active players, evaluation of talent may take precedence over coming away with a (somewhat meaningless) pre-season win. So the BCs plan to just grab a well-balanced midday meal of popcorn and diet coke, say hey to any of our BFFs who can make it to the Phone Booth at that early hour on a workday, check out the new Mystics talent, catch our first glimpse of Cappie Pondexter in a Liberty uniform, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Go Mystics!

And a footnote: on Tuesday, May 11th, at 6 PM, the Mystics will scrimmage against the Polish National Team at St. John's High School in a game open to the public. That will give all of us a second opportunity to see the pre-season Mystics in action.

10 Comments:

I love most of my seatmates - with the exception of the woman who sits in front of me, looks back withthe stinkeye and covers her ears every time I cheer. We're at a basketball game - not church! And, BCs, as you know, I'm not a particularly obnoxious person!

Looking forward to re-uniting with the wonderful folks in our section! Luckily with Facebook, we were able to connect with BFF's during the year! This season will be bittersweet though because one my best buds and huge Mystics (and Lady Vol)fan succumbed to breast cancer around Christmas. But I will be there cheering and I know Shelley will be there too. I will definitely represent.Go Mystics

BCs:Did you stay up late enough to catch Marissa and Lang on WUSA's Sports Roundup on Sunday night? They talked about how many players were just arriving from playing in Europe and how exciting it was to get everyone on the court together. Lang said that it would be tough losing AB, but they all have to step it up. Happy to have Katie to learn from.Marissa is eager to improve their record, and ready to play hard.

Thanks for the clarification, BCs. And, Tonya, keep cheering! I get the same thing when I cheer at American University women's games. If she wants quiet, tell her to go to a tennis match or golf tournament.

We assume "open to the public" means free. Let's hope so. We've never had to pay to see a Mystics "scrimmage" before, so we're planning to leave our debit cards at home for the Polish National Team game.

As for "radio coverage"...we're pretty sure that's a thing of the past. Comcast will be showing games on TV this season (Yea!) but we think radio fans are out of luck.